ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – The Union College men's basketball team could not hold a lead in the final minutes as the Dutchmen suffered a tough 82-77 loss to host Bard College in a Liberty League matchup on Tuesday night at the Stevenson Athletic Center.
Freshman
Mike Concannon netted a season-best 22 points off the bench to lead four players in double figures for Union (6-7, 2-5 Liberty League). Senior
Brendan Laing added 15 points in 23 minutes while sophomore
Andrew Laub grabbed a team-leading 10 rebounds off the bench as well.
The visitors shot the ball well in taking a 44-31 lead at the half, connecting on 16-of-32 attempts from the field and 9-of-17 shots from beyond the arc. Bard (8-6, 4-3 Liberty League) led for most of the first seven minutes before eight points in 57 seconds put Union back ahead, with threes by Concannon and sophomore
Jackson Mannix sandwiched around a dunk by sophomore
Rhona Eseyade.
Union led by as many as 13 points in the first half following a three by senior
Kevin McNoble that put the visitors up 41-28 with 3:13 on the clock, and went into the half with that same advantage following a Laub three-point play in the waning seconds.
Another three-point play from Laing early in the second half built the Union lead up to a game-high 16 points at 49-33, but the offense went cold soon after that and led to a 15-0 run for the Raptors that tied the game at 51 with 11:53 remaining. However, the visitors responded with nine straight points of their own to regain the lead, as McNoble scored five in a row around buckets from Eseyade and Concannon to lead 62-54 with 8:51 on the clock.
The Dutchmen scored enough to keep the Raptors at bay for the next five minutes and held a 74-68 lead with 2:55 remaining after an Eseyade layup, but Bard closed the game on a 13-3 run to escape with the victory. Union hit only one of its for shots down the stretch, while the Raptors connected on 4-of-6 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws.
Bard heated up offensively in the second half, shooting 57.6 percent (19 of 33) to finish the game at 46.9 percent (30 of 64) from the field. Union, conversely, hit 12 of 29 shots (41.4 percent) in the second stanza to finish the night shooting 45.9 percent (28 of 61) from the field.
The Dutchmen will return to conference play on Friday at Vassar College beginning at 7 p.m.
